The jumping off discussion area for the rest of the Deck. All things Lakewood. Please check out our other sections. As we refile many discussions from the past into their proper sections please check them out and offer suggestions.

Lakewood Mayor and Council President Sam O'Leary, aka Summers/FitzGerald puppet have been working with Cleveland.com that has a long history of looking the other way on Lakewood misdeeds, to introduce a new(haha) news service to Lakewood.

Stay tuned, the internal letter will follow soon.

The Mayor and chosen heir have 28 ways to get information out without being questioned.

Only 1 place will give them the room, if they are willing to either tell the truth, or take questions, FREE to everyone, the Lakewood Observer.

So we have become the enemy. This marks the tenth time this regime have tried to silence the people of Lakewood, and their award winning project, cover-up the real history, and continue their wall of lies and the machines that amplify them.

As evidenced by the recent demise of the Youngstown Vindicator, the newspaper industry is in horrible shape. They are desperately trying to monetize any way they can. This is part of a much bigger project. The PD (cleveland.com, advance, whatever.....) launched a similar program a few months ago for its sports writers. The "Cleveland Sports Twitter" community had a field day mocking the program. Basically they charge a monthly fee to get text messages from PD writers.....the same writers who already tweet information for free.

Naturally, Team Summers will praise this effort. As we've seen, they will stoop to anything to deflect readership and participation the Observer. *They created their own Fake Newspaper*They gave the "Lakewood Citizen" moderator a city job *Their "Finance Director" launched a so-called "Community" facebook page that refuses to disclose its ties to City Hall

PLEASE NOTE AS PREDICTED, it will run for FREE up through the election.

I guess this means, "Friends of Summers" will not have to turn election money into another one off paper of lies.

>> *From:* Maureen Bach <maureen.bach@lakewoodoh.net>> <mailto:maureen.bach@lakewoodoh.net>>>> *Date:* July 10, 2019 at 11:49:00 AM EDT>> *To:* Daniel O'Malley <Daniel.OMalley@lakewoodoh.net>> <mailto:Daniel.OMalley@lakewoodoh.net>>, David Anderson>> <David.Anderson@lakewoodoh.net>> <mailto:David.Anderson@lakewoodoh.net>>, John Litten>> <John.Litten@lakewoodoh.net <mailto:John.Litten@lakewoodoh.net>>,>> Meghan George <Meghan.George@lakewoodoh.net>> <mailto:Meghan.George@lakewoodoh.net>>, Nicholas Lascu>> <Nicholas.Lascu@lakewoodoh.net>> <mailto:Nicholas.Lascu@lakewoodoh.net>>, Sam O'Leary>> <Sam.OLeary@lakewoodoh.net <mailto:Sam.OLeary@lakewoodoh.net>>, Tom>> Bullock <Tom.Bullock@lakewoodoh.net>> <mailto:Tom.Bullock@lakewoodoh.net>>, Tristan Rader>> <Tristan.Rader@lakewoodoh.net <mailto:Tristan.Rader@lakewoodoh.net>>>> *Subject:* *Cleveland.com <http://Cleveland.com> Project Text Project>> Featuring Lakewood*>>>> Council,>>>> Today Mayor Summers looped me and Nick into a meeting about a new>> Cleveland.com <http://Cleveland.com> Project Text>> <https://www.cleveland.com/projecttext/> initiative focused on Lakewood.>>>> Project Text initiatives are subscription based services>> ($3.99/month) where readers will receive 1-2 texts per day and have>> the opportunity to engage with a reporter and get follow up questions>> answered. Project text stories may also lead to more in-depth stories>> on Cleveland.com <http://Cleveland.com>.>>>> Cleveland.com <http://Cleveland.com> reporter Emily Bamforth (also a>> Lakewood resident) will be leading the effort. Emily committed to>> being present at City Hall and meeting regularly with officials to>> ask questions, get answers and bat around ideas.>>>> The initiative is launching Monday July 15^th as a three month>> experiment. The future of the project will be re-evaluated after that>> time. Lakewood is the first suburb getting this attention so they>> want to see how it goes.>>>> The Mayor fully embraces this project. I will be sure to catch up>> with Emily on her visits to City Hall to make sure that news from>> Council is also included.>>>> Best,>>>> Maureen>>>> Maureen McHugh Bach, MPH>>>> Clerk of Council>>>> Lakewood City Council>>>> Ph: 216-529-6053

Michael Deneen wrote:As evidenced by the recent demise of the Youngstown Vindicator, the newspaper industry is in horrible shape. They are desperately trying to monetize any way they can. This is part of a much bigger project. The PD (cleveland.com, advance, whatever.....) launched a similar program a few months ago for its sports writers. The "Cleveland Sports Twitter" community had a field day mocking the program. Basically they charge a monthly fee to get text messages from PD writers.....the same writers who already tweet information for free.

Naturally, Team Summers will praise this effort. As we've seen, they will stoop to anything to deflect readership and participation the Observer. *They created their own Fake Newspaper*They gave the "Lakewood Citizen" moderator a city job *Their "Finance Director" launched a so-called "Community" facebook page that refuses to disclose its ties to City Hall

Mike, I have to disagree here. While your point about the PD being desperate and needing to monetize whatever they can is true, it’s clear to see what’s going on here.

It’s the return of the Fitzgerald “community newspaper” tactic.

Sort of odd they are launching this now - A mere 3 months from the election. And oh, it’s free for a limited time! Just enough to keep people on their text list until the election!

Put out carefully controlled content to influence the voters!

Then like the Fitzgerald paper, after the election, it’s gone. They’ll say the trial period just wasnt successful.

This is a tried and true Fitzgerald/Summers tactic. Why not do it again when it worked the last time?

What exactly is the point of this PD project? We already have several news sources. What does this add?

People have more immediate access to information today then ever before. The Observer serves Lakewood with a regular print and online edition, plus a forum and Facebook page.

Today, you can find out virtually anything in minutes without picking up a phone, thanks to the internet.

Councilpeople have Facebook and Twitter accounts to make announcements. Even the city makes information available on Facebook - road work, city projects, meetings, etc

Then there are the thousands of people on the Lakewood Oh Facebook who post news of accidents, shootings, and lost pets within minutes of their occurrence. Hear a gunshot? Your power out? Find out why in seconds.

Jim O'Bryan wrote:PLEASE NOTE AS PREDICTED, it will run for FREE up through the election.

I guess this means, "Friends of Summers" will not have to turn election money into another one off paper of lies.

The free trial has nothing to do with the election. It's customary for new media services -- even those as successful and established as Netflix -- to offer a free trial period.

Yes and no. Free trial periods are common. But the timing of this one shows the real intent is to influence the election. Sam, Sam, I've known you a long time but you've fallen in with a very bad crowd.

"When tyrants tremble, sick with fear, And hear their death-knell ringing, When friends rejoice both far and near, How can I keep from singing?" --from the Pete Seeger version of "How can I keep from singing?"

So I signed up for the free trial for the same reason why I follow other FB groups I don't necessarily agree with and why I don't unfriend Trumpers.Someone has to keep an eye on them, although I don't expect I'll pay for it.

It might be good to keep reminding them that there are other viewpoints in Lakewood besides City Hall's and report here on the response.

"When tyrants tremble, sick with fear, And hear their death-knell ringing, When friends rejoice both far and near, How can I keep from singing?" --from the Pete Seeger version of "How can I keep from singing?"

I've been reading it for a few days and will stop short of saying I'm impressed but she does a pretty good job. There was one the other day about the new Starbucks which indicated that the big controversy is the national/international corporation coming in. No, it's the drive-thru. The one today talked about splash pads and only quoted the mayor. There are many others with different positions. These are the two I've written her back about, but haven't had a reply or indication that the message was received. Rookie mistakes.

Several years ago, we cancelled the PD and subscribed to the online New York Times. Since then I've been looking for online sources of local news beyond what I get from The Observer and the Deck. This does not seem like any kind of competition to the Observer project but rather to another online publication that will not be named here which we all know is all-in for the mayor. If that went away - again - I'd shed no tears.

"When tyrants tremble, sick with fear, And hear their death-knell ringing, When friends rejoice both far and near, How can I keep from singing?" --from the Pete Seeger version of "How can I keep from singing?"